Had the Superintendent bothered to speak to Patrena Shankling or conducted any type of investigation he would have learned that she was a substitute teacher and was correctly following the lesson plans provided by the classroom’s teacher. The Superintendent does not have experience teaching in a public school. If instead of being, as the students described him, “nasty...aggressive...rude...mad,” he had sat down for a quiet conversation with the actual teacher away from the students and tried to understand the reasoning behind the assignment, he could have offered constructive input. Instead he banned a person whom one teacher described as “conscientious, committed, competent” from teaching in the district.

Unfortunately, this was not an isolated incident within the LAUSD. Dr. Deasy has been described as “intolerant of dissent” and “he admits impatience.” While he complains “of the difficulty in firing incompetent teachers and his belief in the need to change job-protection laws,” he shows the need for these protections when he keeps hundreds of employees out of the classroom in a program commonly referred to as “teacher’s jail.” This program was originally justified as a way to keep students protected while teachers were investigated for misconduct, but it has lost focus and the district will only say that a “vast majority” are “housed “ for this reason. The public, and often the teachers themselves, are left wondering what some teachers have done that keeps them from the classroom. Is this another form of bullying by the Superintendent?

This seems to be another issue where the Board of Education is unwilling to supervise the Superintendent. Even though they passed a resolution last year that requires that teachers be told of the reason they are being pulled from the classroom, it appears that Dr. Deasy is not complying with their policy. Even worse, this seems to be another issue where Board Member Tamar Galatzan cares more about silencing Deasy’s critics than listening to the district’s stakeholders. When Patrena Shankling testified before the board about her experience, she had to receive special permission to speak for more than the allotted time. Ms. Galatzan did not even look up as she cast one of the two opposing votes.